


Burning Photographs

by comefeedtherainn



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Missing Moments, No Sole Survivor, some canon events
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-12-20 08:19:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11916897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comefeedtherainn/pseuds/comefeedtherainn
Summary: The thing about the Commonwealth is that everything seems fine if you cover your ears and sing real loud.Piper Wright has never been content a day in her life, her thirst for justice bringing her to the doorstep of the Great Green Jewel with a kid sister clinging to her jacket and a pen in her fist. Not everything is as it seems, and Piper is sure that if those green walls could talk, it'd be the interview of her goddamn career.





	1. Chapter 1

A pen and a pistol.

The only weapons Piper had ever wielded, and only one she felt proficient in. She stuck both inside of her rucksack, along with a tattered notebook and an extra set of clothes.

“How far is it?”

Piper looked over her shoulder, her sister Natalie standing in front of her at hip height in body but much taller in mind. She may be only six, but she was a damn smart cookie. “Couple days of travel,” Piper told her, turning back to her minimal packing. “Did you pack the food?”

“Yeah,” Nat nodded, holding up her own backpack. “You sure this is enough for two days?”

“It will be if we don’t inhale it.” Piper swung her pack onto her shoulder, taking a deep breath. “Well. Guess this is it.”

“Yep.”

They were both quiet for a moment, looking around at the tiny shack they’d grown up in. It had been good to them, shielded them from storms and rads and cold. Piper knew it would probably be safer for Nat to stay; it wasn’t right to uproot the kid just because her itch for justice was taking her away from their small settlement looking for relief. She’d even tried convincing her to do just that, one of the older women in the settlement claiming that she would be happy to look after her. Nat had barely let her get the words out before practically popping her head off screaming. And so, here she was, packed and ready to venture forth with her trouble-making sister.

“Alright,” Piper sighed, straightening her back. “Let’s hit the road, kid. Sooner we head out the better.”

“Okay, Piper,” Nat agreed, reaching up to take her hand. Piper smiled, even as the gut-wrenching fear of being responsible for a small child in the Commonwealth gripped her.

“Okay, Nat.”

***  
“Woah! Look how big that door is!” Nat cried, breaking into a run.

Piper resisted the instinct to grab her by the back of her coat and drag her back, her eyes fixed warily on the turrets facing them as they approached the Great Green Jewel. Nat was right, though, the door was huge, towering over them and as green as the name promised.

“Don’t run ahead, Nat,” she reminded her, and Nat fell back, though she did send Piper an ugly face over her shoulder. Piper snorted softly and rolled her eyes, pulling Nat behind her gently as she approached the intercom beside the entrance. She paused, not sure if something was supposed to happen, then reached to tentatively press the button below the speaker when she was only met with silence. “Um. Hello?”

“Welcome to Diamond City,” came a low voice from the other hand, crackling slightly through the machinery. “How can I help you?”

“Uh, this is Piper and Natalie Wright,” Piper said, leaning toward the speaker awkwardly. She glanced up at movement in the corner of her eye, noticing the small camera swiveling toward her. “We’ve been in contact with Geneva? About a house.”

There was silence for a few minutes, and Piper watched Nat crawling around on the weird statue of a dude with a bat while her own heart raced. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the intercom crackled to life again.

“Okay, everything checks out. Please stand back, Ms. Wright, door will open momentarily.”

Piper took a few steps back from the door, reaching blindly for Nat and closing her hand when Nat’s clasped her palm. They both craned their necks as the green door slowly began to ascend, the gears screeching and trembling just enough to be precarious. Piper took a quick, deep breath, hiking her bag further up onto her shoulders. “Alright. Let’s go in, kid.”

Natalie didn’t respond, just held tighter to Piper’s hand as they entered Diamond City’s gates. They approached the counter to the right of the entrance, behind which was a red-haired man in some sort of armor, a firearm on his hip. His eyes were light green, catching the light, and Piper distracted herself by noticing as much.

“Ms. Wright,” the man greeted her, holding out his hand over the worn slab of wood between them. “Danny Sullivan, ma’am. I’ll be escorting you to the mayor’s office to get your key.”

“Nice to meet you, Danny,” Piper nodded, shaking his gloved hand firmly. His fingers were bare, and she could see dirt and thick callouses. “And it’s just Piper. This is my sister, Natalie. Say hi, Nat.”

“Hi, Mr. Sullivan,” Nat said dutifully, holding out her own hand to shake. She squeezed Danny’s hand as hard as she could, and Piper bit back the proud smirk.

“Nice grip, Natalie,” Danny scoffed, the corner of his mouth lifting. “If you two will follow me.”

Piper took Natalie’s hand again, holding it tight as she waited for Danny to come out from behind the desk and lead them into the city. They ascended the ramp into the old baseball stadium, squinting as the sunlight hit them directly in the eyes for a moment when they reached the top. Piper shielded her vision with her palm, whistling lowly when it cleared.

Diamond City was everything she’d heard, and more. The shacks and buildings were covered in slabs of metal, steel glinting in her periphery from all angles. The center of town was bustling, full of shops and more people than she’d ever seen in one place, smoke hanging in the air. Her ears were assaulted by voices and metallic clanging, her nose scrunched at the scent of burning fuel and countless types of food mingled together. It was chaos, and she found her heart racing from the thrill.

“This way, ma’am,” Danny urged, stepping into her line of sight to get her attention.

“Told you, Danny, it’s Piper,” she reminded him, smiling a bit as they resumed their trek. “Ma’am makes me feel ancient.”

“Sorry. Piper.”

The three of them turned right just before entering the main part of town, veering off and passing by what appeared to be an all-faiths church.Piper glanced at it as they walked by; she’d never had much use for religion, herself, but she wondered if it might be a good idea to take Nat to some services. Someone to teach her right from wrong that would actually know what the fuck to say.

“Woah!” Natalie gasped, letting go of Piper’s hand and darting ahead again. “Cool!” She bypassed Danny, jumping onto a long platform that appeared to be some sort of lift.

“Don’t run ahead, Nat,” Piper reminded her with a heavy sigh.

Danny just smiled and stepped on after Nat, standing beside the console in the center of the lift. “Arms and legs in,” he told Natalie, nodding in approval when she clamped her arms to her sides and stood at attention. Once they were all inside he pressed the bright red button on the console, and the ramp retracted before the lift began to rise into the air.

Natalie eyes went wide, and she stood up on her tiptoes trying to see over the edge while still keeping her arms firmly plastered to her torso. Piper smirked and bent down, lifting her up and holding her on her hip so she could see the buildings shrink below them the higher they ascended.

“Wow,” Nat gasped, eyes round as she marveled. “Look, you can see forever,” she pointed out, her small fingertip touching the horizon over the edge of Diamond City’s great green walls.

“Just about,” Piper agreed quietly, a brick settling in her gut.

The lift came to a jerking stop, sending Piper stumbling a step or two. Danny reached out to offer her a hand, taking hers to help her steady herself. She pulled a face and her hand away, raising an eyebrow at him. “I’m not gonna faint, Sullivan.”

Danny’s pale face turned a little pink at that and he nodded, looking away. “Sorry. Uh, this way, ma’am. I mean. Piper.”

She frowned after him as he walked down the ramp, then shook her head and set Natalie on her feet again. She let her sister grab her hand before following Danny toward a large, steel desk. Behind it sat a woman whose skin and hair were almost equally fair.

“Geneva,” Danny greeted, nodding to her. “This is Piper and Natalie Wright, the family looking into the vacancy across from the church.”

“Yes, Ms. Wright,” Geneva smiled, getting to her feet and holding out a thin arm to shake Piper’s hand. “We’ve been in contact, great to finally meet you.”

“Yeah, you too,” Piper nodded, schooling her facial expression as Geneva’s handshake reminded her of waving around a dead fish.

“Thank you so much, Danny,” Geneva added, turning to give the security officer with an overly wide smile.

“Anytime.” Danny nodded to the group of them, his eyes locking with Piper’s for a few extra moments. “If you need anything, let me know, security would be happy to help.”

“Sure thing. Thanks, Danny,” Piper agreed, clapping his shoulder firmly. “Don’t work too hard up there.”

He just nodded again, resembling a bobble head at this point, before heading to the regular elevator in the corner of the room and riding it back down.

“You two can have a seat,” Geneva offered, gesturing with an open hand toward the vacant chairs in front of her desk. “I’ll just need a moment to retrieve your paperwork and set of keys.” She turned and disappeared behind the double doors behind her, shutting them before Piper could crane her neck and peek inside.

Natalie slumped in her chair, her eyes half-lidded. “How long is this gonna take?” she asked petulantly, propping her feet up flat on the face of Geneva’s desk. The metal caved a little bit under her weight, making a harsh, metallic twanging sound.

“Dunno,” Piper sighed, settling back in her own chair. “Hopefully it’s just a matter of a couple signatures and initials and then we can go take a nap.”

“I don’t want a nap,” Nat scoffed, even as she blinked much more slowly than usual. “I’m hungry, though.”

“Okay. Food first. Then we’ll see,” Piper conceded, knowing food would knock the kid right the fuck out, anyway. Her eye twitched as another twang sounded underneath Natalie’s sneaker. “Nat. Put your feet down or I’ll tie your shoelaces together.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re bugging me.”

Nat stared at her for a second, then made the sound again while maintaining direct eye contact. Piper swore under her breath and reached to swipe at her feet, then sat right back up when Geneva emerged from behind the double doors again. She either wasn’t bothered or didn’t care enough to ask about all the noise, setting a decently thick stack of papers in front of Piper. She felt bad for whoever had to handwrite that shit.

“Okay, Ms. Wright,” Geneva began, leaning over the desk as she pressed pristine fingertips to the papers between them. “Here you’ll find your leasing agreement, which outlines our expectations as well as your rights as a-”

Piper, admittedly, zoned out about three words into the explanations, and just ended up signing wherever Geneva told her to. After several minutes of writing her own name down so many times it no longer looked like real words, Piper was handed two sets of silver keys on a rusty chain. She squeezed them in her fist, the metal cutting into her skin and making it all seem a bit less surreal. Just a bit. “Are we good?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Geneva nodded, giving her the same wide-mouthed smile she’d given Danny Sullivan. “Go ahead and take the lift back down, and your residence is located right across the street from the local church. Would you like me to assign a security officer to show you the way?”

“No, I can handle it,” Piper assured her, getting to her feet. She stuffed the keys into her pocket and reached out to shake Geneva’s dead fish hand again. “Thanks, for the help Geneva.”

“Of course, Ms. Wright. Enjoy your new home, and remember the rent is due on the first of every month!”

Piper followed Nat toward the lift, remembering to hold onto the side when she pressed the button to take them back down to earth. She squinted into the distance as they descended, smiling a bit when she saw their new home, straight across from the church and almost right in the center of town.

“Which one is ours?” Natalie asked, clearly having the same idea as Piper as she stood up on the tips of her toes to see over the edge.

Piper lifted her up onto her hip again, pointing out the two story shack. “That one. See? With the deck out front.”

“Wow. It’s big.”

“I know right?” Piper grinned, setting her down again once they neared the ground. “Let’s go check it out.”

She had enough quick thinking to grab Natalie’s hand as the ramp extended, knowing she would have taken off at a sprint if she didn’t. Together they walked toward the house, the keys jingling in the pocket of Piper’s jacket. She reached in and retrieved them, though she paused with them in mid-air and aimed at the lock.

“…Piper. Open the door, come on,” Nat urged, pushing her toward it. “Stop being weird.”

Piper blinked and shook her head, inserting the key into the lock and managing to turn it with a bit of force. She pressed it slowly open, standing in the doorway as Nat dashed inside. There was the click of a switch, and the shack was bathed in dingy, yellow light. It was almost completely empty, although Piper did note that there was a stained mattress pressed against the back wall and a rickety coffee table that someone had left behind. She walked to the center of the living area to get a good look, her footfalls loud against the old wood.

“Woah, look up here, Piper!”

Piper followed her sister’s voice up the stairs to the loft, smiling at how excited she was about their new place. No furniture up there, either, but Piper could already envision the writing nook she could make for herself. “Dibs.”

“Aw, no fair!”

“Relax,” Piper snickered, ruffling her air and earning herself a shove. Coming from a six year old, it was hardly enough to make her bat an eye, but she still stumbled a step to boost the kid’s ego. “We’ll make sure your room is twice as cool as mine.”

“Good.”

The rest of the day consisted mostly of shopping. They needed food and linens for the gross mattress before anything else, so Piper took Nat to the market with her to pick some things up. She was just counting her caps despairingly as she surveyed the options for sheets and blankets at Myrna’s when someone cleared their throat behind her. She peered over her shoulder and smiled. “Oh, hey, Danny. Thought you were working the entrance?”

“Shift change,” Danny informed her with his own understated smile. “Saw you and thought I’d make sure you were settling in okay.”

“Aw,” Piper grinned, nudging him. “You’re a regular wasteland gentleman, aren’t you, Sullivan? Don’t see many of those anymore.”

Danny turned a bit pink and shrugged. “Just doing my job, Piper.”

“Hi Mr. Sullivan,” Natalie greeted, swinging her bag of Nuka Cola and other treats.

“Hey, miss Natalie,” Danny greeted with an even wider smile, nodding toward her. Piper noticed he did that a lot, and that his hands were always firmly at his sides save for handshakes.

“Have you ever killed anyone?” Natalie asked bluntly, blinking owlishly up at him. “Piper’s killed people before.”

“Uh, so,” Piper interjected, tugging Nat behind her and giving her a look that she hoped was stern. “How long you lived in the Great Green Jewel, Danny?”

“Since I was little,” Danny told her, looking about as relieved as she felt about the subject change. “My parents moved us here when I was four.”

“Wow. Long time. What was it like, growing up here?” Piper asked, her eyes drifting to Natalie. She had apparently tuned out of the conversation, looking around at all of the people and buildings.

The warmth was evident in Danny’s voice when he spoke, and Piper glanced at him as she tried to determine why it was there. “I liked it. Lots of kids around, and there’s a clearing out back by the crops where they can play.” He paused, frowning a little as he closed his mouth.

“What?” Piper asked, raising an eyebrow.

Danny sighed, looking around for a moment. “Look, just…Diamond City is one of the safest settlements you could hope to find in the Commonwealth. But it could be safer.”

“What does that mean? You always this cryptic, Sullivan?” Piper scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and jutting out one hip.

“Cryptic? I’m not cryptic,” Danny insisted with a blink. “I just…the mayor likes to keep things calm around here. He don’t like anyone causing unrest.”

“If something shady is going on, people ought to know,” Piper countered, raising a dark eyebrow. “What did you mean, Danny?”

“Just look around,” he told her quietly. “You’ll see what I’m talking about. Keep your nose clean and you’ll be alright, but just be sharp.”

Piper frowned after him as he inclined his head before continuing on his way. Not cryptic, right. She shook her head and carried on with her shopping, ready to eat and collapse onto their new sheets. She couldn’t help Danny’s words knocking around inside her brain, though, and her eyes flitted around trying to see what Danny had meant for her to see. She didn’t really know the guy, but she could read people. And Danny was an honest man, a wasteland gentleman. So, if he said Diamond City had some dirty little secrets, Piper was inclined to believe him.

Wouldn’t be the first time that she found herself in a place that wasn’t as it seemed.


	2. Chapter 2

Piper was one of the only writers that she knew that rarely suffered from writer’s block. Probably because all of the news writing made her creative bone ache for purple prose like it was going through withdrawals. However, in her new bedroom, on her newly purchased rickety bed and by the light of her dingy lamp, Piper found herself literally knocking her head against the wall and hoping the words would tumble out her ear or something.

Diamond City was just so…ordinary. To be fair, she and Nat had only been in the city for a few days, but Piper had really been hoping to get out a newspaper within the week to garner interest before investing in supplies. However, a newspaper required stories, and there just weren’t any.

“How would you know?” Nat scoffed in response to Piper’s complaining. She was sat in the corner, scribbling in her own notebook. “You don’t go anywhere.”

Piper glowered at her over the edge of her notebook, but it did give her pause, because the kid wasn’t wrong. Piper hadn’t really left the house other than to get things that they needed. If there was a story out there, Piper sure wasn’t in any position to be finding it.

She sighed heavily and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, setting aside her pen and paper. “Alright. You’ve got me there. I’m gonna go take a walk, stay here, okay? Keep the door locked.”

“Okay,” Nat nodded, going back to her own writing and doodling.

Piper stuck her pistol in it’s holster and headed out the front door, making sure to lock it securely behind her and stick the key in the pocket of her coat. She turned and looked both ways at the edge of the front deck, trying to decide where to start walking. She eyed the bustling center of town for a moment, then turned away and headed in the opposite direction, toward the entrance.

She approached the counter and leaned on her folded arms, grinning. “Hey, Danny,” she greeted cheerfully, laughing a bit when he startled and turned around. “Geez, Sullivan. Jumpy.”

“Piper,” he said, blinking. “Hey. H-how are you settling in? Haven’t seen you around.”

“Doing good. Yeah, I’ve been kinda stuck in the house, trying to get shit set up,” Piper explained, running her fingers through her hair to get it out of her eyes. “How’s life on guard duty?”

“Boring,” Danny laughed, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. “Not much happens that the turrets don’t take care of.”

Piper snorted in amusement, nodding. “Yeah. I guess that makes sense.” She was quiet for a moment, squinting at the far wall. “So. You mentioned the other day…about Diamond City having secrets.”

“Don’t,” Danny said quickly, his eyes going wide. He glanced toward the ramp, but it didn’t appear that anyone else was around. “Not here, okay?”

“Come on, Danny,” Piper scoffed, rolling her eyes. “No one’s around. Just give me some examples.”

Danny sighed heavily, glancing toward the entrance again. “Look, just…you didn’t hear it from me, okay? But there’s some stuff that doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Okay,” Piper nodded, giving him an expectant look. “Such as? Don’t make me beg, Sullivan.”

“Like, infrastructure type stuff. Take a good look at the walls next time you’re out and about. Gaps and shit everywhere,” Danny told her lowly, his eyebrows pulled inward.

“Seriously?” Piper blinked, straightening a little.

“Mayor McDonough says it’s because we’ve got the turrets and patrols,” Danny sighed. “But I still don’t like it. We need secure walls to back up all that security, y’know?”

Piper nodded slowly with a thoughtful frown. She hadn’t met McDonough yet, having kept mostly to the house. He didn’t appear to show his face around the city much anyway, tending to stick to his office. “What’s the mayor like?”

Danny shrugged. “Not the friendliest guy around. And I don’t agree with all of his politics. But he keeps the city safe.”

Piper raised an eyebrow, watching as Danny distinctly avoided her eyes. “Spill, Sullivan. I can tell you’re hiding something.”

Danny’s face turned a little pink. “Look, I…McDonough does his best, but sometimes he can be a bit too absent. Some of the safety issues could be avoided if he paid more attention. Not to mention the paid off guards…” He trailed off, looking like he regretted saying that much.

“Woah, woah, crooked guards?” Piper hissed, leaning toward him again. “You gotta be fucking with me.”

“I‘m not,” Danny sighed, grimacing. “You didn’t hear it from me, alright? But yeah. Some of the guards are paid off to look the other way when shit goes down. It’s mostly the traders and caravans trying to smuggle illegal stuff in or deal jet and shit at their stalls. The guards look the other way, the trader cuts ‘em a deal.”

“How do you know this?” Piper asked, staring hard into Danny’s eyes. He turned steadily more red the longer she looked.

“I, uh. I’ve seen it happen a few times. I tried to bring it to the chief once but he didn’t do anything about it,” Danny told her, shifting around a bit underneath her gaze.

“Jesus,” Piper breathed, her heart rate increasing with a mix of indignation and the thrill of chasing a dirty story. “This is some fucked up shit, Sullivan.”

“You can say that again.”

“Well,” she said abruptly, straightening and readjusting her jacket. “I gotta get going.”

“Oh,” Danny blinked. “Okay. Um. See you later.”

“See you around, Danny,” Piper agreed, sending him a crooked smile over her shoulder as she made her way back into the city proper. She made her way straight to the market to do some research, leaning against a secluded wall and pulling out her pack of cigarettes as she settled in for some people watching.

***

“A newspaper?”

“Yeah,” Piper nodded, scribbling in her notebook as she and Nat ate dinner. They were sitting on the floor, their noodle bowls on the rickety coffee table that had come with the place. Piper still hadn’t been able to spring for a couch. “The city doesn’t have one, and the people deserve to know what’s going on out there.”

“What’s going on out there?” Nat asked, cocking her head with a frown.

“Crazy shit, Nat,” Piper told her seriously. “And the people deserve to know. It’s their right as free citizens.”

Natalie nodded, staring at Piper almost in awe. It made her a little uncomfortable, to be looked up to by someone so impressionable. She cast a quick glance at Nat and then averted her eyes, continuing to scribble.

“I need you to help me, okay? Handwriting all these copies ain’t gonna be easy,” Piper scoffed. “Still, I only wanna make like, fifteen to start. Just in case no one gives a shit.”

“Okay, Piper,” Natalie agreed, surprising her. She’d expected her sister to complain at least a little bit. But she had an all-too-familiar spark in her eyes, and Piper felt the brick in her gut settle a bit heavier.

“Great. Thanks, kid.”

Piper spent the rest of the evening making notes for stories, literally dreaming about putting the paper together. Not about the recognition or the reaction, but the literal process of putting the thing together with her own hands. Maybe she had a problem, but she liked to call it dedication.

The next day she spent walking around town again, asking the shopkeepers about rumors or concerns that they had. She had a particularly illuminating conversation with Myrna, one she had a hard time believing.

“Wait…a book case?”

Myrna nodded, pointing toward a crevice in the city’s wall. It looked to have been torn away at some point a long time ago, and had apparently been patched with a single, empty bookcase. Upon further inspection, it appeared the damn thing wasn’t even nailed down. Anyone could just scoot it aside and climb into the city without having to pass through the security checkpoint.

Piper grit her teeth, shaking her head. Diamond City was supposed to be the safest settlement in the Commonwealth, and yet she’d seen kids younger than Nat do a better patch job. Her gaze flitted upward, to the elevated office of Mayor McDonough. She decided now was as good a time as any to meet the man. Maybe he wasn’t aware of the infrastructure issues, given that he rarely came down.

She found herself riding the lift up before she could decide if it was a good idea or not. Maybe this McDonough was reasonable. She hadn’t really met a mayor she liked, so far, but she was willing to give politicians a chance. One chance.

“Hey Geneva,” Piper greeted the woman behind the desk, holding out her hand to shake Geneva’s floppy fish one. “I was hoping I could speak to the mayor, if he’s got some time.”

“Hm,” Geneva hummed, frowning at a calendar pasted on top of her desk. “He does have about thirty minutes before his next meeting! You can head on back, Ms. Wright.”

“Great, thanks.”

Piper slipped around the desk and pushed her way past the double doors and into the mayor’s office. It was pretty sparsely decorated, a couple of couches and some bookcases along with a desk. A terminal sat on top, as well as knickknacks and other shit that seemed to dot every surface. Before the desk stood a man that could only be the mayor, his tan suit quite clean and filled out by a round stomach. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he glanced over his shoulder at the sound of the door closing. His mustache lifted a bit as his mouth spread into a distinct politician’s smile. Not a good sign, but Piper gave him the benefit of the doubt.

“Ah, so nice to receive a visit from the fine folks of Diamond City! I don’t believe we’ve met, I am Mayor McDonough,” he said boisterously, holding out a thick hand. When Piper shook it, her bones creaked a bit.

“Piper Wright,” Piper replied, giving him her own smile and squeezing his hand right back. “My sister Natalie and I just moved in about a week ago, across from the church.”

“Ah yes, I heard all about you two from Geneva. How are you settling?”

“Just fine,” Piper nodded. “I’m actually thinking about starting up a newspaper. I’m a writer.”

“Wonderful!” McDonough agreed eagerly, his smile spreading thinner. “The press is the backbone of any good democracy.”

“Right. So, I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of things. Or rather, make you aware of them,” Piper asked, leaning back against McDonough’s desk a bit.

McDonough blinked once, his smile faltering just a little. “Make me aware of them? What do you mean?” he asked, still chuckling a bit.

“Well, I was taking a walk this morning, and I noticed that there’s a hole in the southern wall,” Piper informed him, raising her eyebrows. “And it’s been patched with a bookcase. I don’t know about you, Mr. Mayor, but that seems a little bit like asking for trouble.”

McDonough waved her off, walking toward the window and gesturing toward the southern wall. “That hole is so small I didn’t think it needed proper patching. We need to conserve our resources.”

Piper stared at him, trying to tell if he was serious or not. “Mr. Mayor, I know we don’t have raiders knocking down our doors every other day, but those turrets can’t catch everything. We need to have a secure infrastructure.”

“You needn’t worry yourself about something so trivial, Ms. Wright,” McDonough told her, patting her hand. She lifted an eyebrow and retracted it. “Diamond City is the safest settlement in the Commonwealth! Nothing bad ever happens here.”

“The only way that remains true is if we keep our defenses tight,” Piper argued, scowling at his condescending tone. “I’ll only take this into my own hands if I have to,” she added warningly.

That seemed to raise his hackles a bit, and he frowned deeply at her with bushy, gray brows. “If this is the kind of thing I can expect from this newspaper you plan to create, Ms. Wright, I’m afraid I won’t be able to condone it. I can’t have some newcomer disturbing the peace I’ve fought so hard to achieve.”

“The peace doesn’t mean shit if it’s a lie,” Piper snapped, blinking when McDonough shook his head and pulled her away from his desk with a fist around her arm. “Hey, let go!”

“I’m afraid I am out of time, Ms. Wright. And please, next time you wish to drop by, make an appointment with my assistant.” With that, Piper barely stepped back in time to avoid getting her nose smashed by the door to his office.

“Hey!” she cried indignantly, hammering on the door with her fist. She scowled and stomped her foot when she got no answer. “The people of Diamond City deserve the truth, McDonough! And if you won’t give it to them, I will!” With that she whirled on her heel and stalked toward the lift, swearing under her breath.

She nearly smashed the console with her fist, huffing angrily through her nose as she braced her forearms on the edge of the lift as it descended. Her eyes slid over the city’s skyline, and up over the wall to observe the horizon beyond.

Diamond City’s the safest settlement in the Commonwealth, but it could be safer.

Danny hadn’t even felt comfortable enough to tell her about a damn infrastructure problem in public. That was how desperately McDononough was clinging to his facade of peace. Who the fuck was this man? How in the fuck did he get elected? Her mind spun with frustrated, half formed questions.

She walked off the lift, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. She turned halfway toward the exit to the city, then stopped and went the other way when she spotted Danny on guard detail in the center of town. She stomped up to him, too frustrated to really take in the surprised blinking and slight smile when he noticed her.

“Oh, hey Piper.”

“Come to my place later,” Piper said briskly, sticking her hands into her pockets as she came to a stop in front of him.

Danny’s eyes went round and his cheeks pink. “Uh.”

Piper scoffed, the corner of her mouth lifting just a bit in amusement. “Oh, in your dreams, Sullivan,” she teased, shifting her weight to one foot. The frustration was easing a bit, and her tone became less severe. “Just come by, I wanna chat. Somewhere where we can, y’know…speak freely.”

Danny glanced around, nodding slowly. “Uh, yeah. Alright. Sure. When?”

“When your shift’s over,” Piper told him, patting his arm. “Thanks, Danny. There’s food and beer in it for you.”

“Well, now I’m sold,” he laughed, grinning for once instead of the small, understated smile he usually sported. “I’ll be there.”

“Great.” Piper stuck her hand back in her pocket and headed home, her stomach and brain both buzzing with anger still but more controlled. She’d talk to Danny, get him to actually give her something instead of cryptic shit like an asshole. Well, he wasn’t really an asshole. Guy was just nervous as fuck to lose his job, or whatever happened to people that disturbed McDonough’s peace.

She laughed a little bit remembering the blush on Danny’s face when he’d clearly gotten the wrong idea. Well, not completely wrong. He was definitely hot, in a way that spoke more to Piper’s values than her body (although his arms definitely were nothing to joke about). He was a good man, Piper could see that, and she rarely met people that were so purely good like that. She hoped her assessment wasn’t wrong, but she usually wasn’t.

Still. She had a job to do, a reason for inviting him over. Plus, she had a kid sister. Couldn’t be bringing guys around when she was responsible for a six year old in the Commonwealth. And now, apparently, for the well-being of an entire city.

It was a nice thought, though. Real nice thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Piper was reclining in her chair up in the loft, feet propped up on her desk, when there were three polite knocks at the door. She could guess who it was just from the even tempo and tolerable volume, even if she wasn’t expecting anyone. She grinned, heart leaping slightly at the prospect of finally uncovering a worthwhile story. She descended the steps, passing Nat drawing in the living area, and pushed the sweaty strands of hair away from her forehead; sometimes it was real shitty living in a place with no windows.

She opened the door wide and grinned as she stuck her hand out for Danny, who was out of his uniform and instead in a pair of worn out jeans and a thin flannel. “Hey, Danny,” she greeted cheerfully, stepping back. “Come on in.”

“Hey, Piper,” he replied with a crooked smile. He stepped inside, and Piper watched with a raised eyebrow as he toed off his shoes. Her eyes flitted to her slightly dusty floors, wondering why he thought the gesture was necessary. Such a goddamn gentleman. Where the hell did he come from?

“Have a seat, I’ve got dinner cooking,” Piper told him, heading into the kitchenette to start the quick process of heating up noodles. Couldn’t afford much at the moment. She turned the notch a few times to get the gas to light, glancing out of the corner of her eye as Danny went to sit with Nat in the living room. “Nat, you remember Danny.”

Natalie looked up from her sketchbook and smiled genuinely, a rarity for her, and held out her hand just like Piper did. “Hi, Mr. Sullivan,” she greeted enthusiastically, shaking his hand in her usual vice grip.

“Hey, Natalie,” Danny grinned. “You can just call me Danny, y’know. We’re friends.”

Natalie’s eyes brightened just as her smile did, looking at Danny like he’d hung the sun. Piper bit her lips to hide her smile. “Okay!”

“Whatcha drawing?” Danny asked, scooting over a bit on the couch. “Can I see?”

“Sure,” Nat nodded, turning the book toward him. “It’s a puppy. One of the caravan guys had one who was really cute.”

“Oh yeah, I saw them coming in,” Danny laughed. “That’s really good, kid. You’ve got a talent.”

Jesus, if he kept that shit up Piper might just kiss him. She parted the floating noodles with a fork, watching Danny and Nat talking animatedly through the wafting steam. Soon, they were soft enough to dish up, and she carefully poured three bowls full of food before getting beers and a Nuka Cola from the fridge. She turned around and almost ran face first into Danny, blinking in surprise. “Jesus. Sneak up on a lady, why dontcha?”

“Sorry,” Danny laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Figured you might want some help with that stuff.”

“Oh.” Fucking Danny. “Sure, thanks. Help me with those two bowls, will ya?”

Danny nodded and took the two bowls Piper couldn’t carry, her other hand full of the necks of three glass bottles. They clinked noisily as they traveled into the living room, setting everything down on the table. “So,” Danny began, watching Piper pop the cap off of her beer on the edge of the table. “You’re starting a newspaper, huh?”

“Yep,” Piper grinned, winking playfully at him. “Call me a masochist.”

Danny snorted around a sip, smirking back at her. “I might. How do you manage it?”

“Lots of patience. Occasional bouts of insanity. Wrist bracing. It’s a lot of writing.”

“Wait…you hand-write the paper?!”

Piper snorted at him, raising an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah. What else am I supposed to do?”

Danny didn’t appear to have an answer for that one, but he frowned almost thoughtfully as he chewed noodles for a minute. Piper used the silence to glance at Nat’s drawing, smiling softly. It really was good, Danny hadn’t been bullshitting. “Nice,” she complimented, ruffling her hair playfully. “I’ll get you new pencils when Myrna gets some, okay?”

Nat’s eyes flitted upward and she smiled briefly but brightly. “Thanks,” she chirped, looking very pleased to be getting so many compliments.

“Sure.”

They continued eating in mostly quiet, Nat scribbling in her notebook in between bites. Soon they were finished, and it was time for Nat to go to sleep. She whined and groaned a little, but Piper eventually coaxed her into it via vague threats of headlocks. Piper turned to Danny, then pulled a face as she realized how nearby Nat’s bed nook was. “Let’s go up to my office,” she suggested, getting to her feet. “It’s in the loft, she won’t be able to hear us as long as we aren’t too loud.”

“Sounds good.”

Danny followed her up the creaking steps, both of them trying to watch their step so they didn’t make more noise than necessary. They entered the small haven Piper had created for herself, the string lights on the ceiling casting a yellow glow. She’d put down a couple of carpets she’d found at Fallon’s and cleaned up as best she could, and practically overflowed the bed with pillows and a few blankets. She had a sham draped over the back of her desk chair as well, which she sat in as she nodded to the bed. “Have a seat. That one’s way comfier. This chair is shit.”

“I can take it, then,” Danny insisted, frowning at her.

“Sullivan, just sit on the bed,” she snorted, smirking fondly at him.

He looked like he wanted to argue, but didn’t and sat down. Smart man. She grinned and lounged in her rickety chair, folding her legs so her ankle rested on her knee, and crossed her arms over her chest. “So.”

“So,” Danny replied teasingly.

“You were awfully vague at the market earlier,” she prodded, raising an eyebrow at him. “You have this talent for saying something and yet, absolutely fucking nothing.”

Danny snickered, shrugging as he bowed his head a bit. “Comes from working DC security, I guess. Gotta watch your mouth.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Piper conceded, unfolding her legs and sitting forward a bit. “Why is that, Danny?”

Danny’s smile faded a bit. His eyes darted around just a bit, from Piper’s eyes to over her shoulder, not quite like a caged animal but more like someone trying to chance a glimpse at the sun before their eyeballs shriveled up.

When it appeared he was struggling to find his words, Piper tried to help him out a bit. “I met the mayor today,” she told him, nodding when his eyebrows disappeared behind his red fringe. “Yeah. He’s uh…a piece of fucking work.”

Danny snorted, shrugging one shoulder. “He can be.”

“You don’t agree?”

“I dunno,” Danny sighed, sitting back against Piper’s mountain of Pillows that stretched all the way to the foot of her bed. “He can be severe, but he has a city to run, y’know?”

“Danny,” Piper frowned. “You’re the one that’s been telling me the city’s crooked. That McDonough is crooked. And now you’re telling me he’s not that bad?”

“It’s…complicated,” Danny grimaced.

“Silencing his security team and refusing to acknowledge the city’s very real problems doesn’t sound too complex to me.”

Danny sighed loudly, running his fingers through his hair and looking off to the side. “Well, it is.”

Piper eased up a little, seeing how worked up he was getting already. Maybe it was as complicated as Danny made it sound. “Why?”

Danny’s brows pulled in a bit in the middle, and he was quiet for another minute. “I told you I grew up here,” he murmured, glancing at her and taking in her confirmatory nod. “Right. So. I knew McDonough before he was elected, before he was even…anyone, really.”

“Yeah?” Piper asked, frowning a bit. “What was he like?”

“Normal enough. Nice guy, his family lived in the upper stands but they were always donating caps to the city. Repairs, water purification, stuff like that. They even helped get the schoolhouse built,” Danny explained, his eyes far away as he remembered. “McDonough and his brother did a lot of charity stuff, too. When McDonough announced he was running for office, I mean, I really thought it was gonna be great.”

“I’m hearing a ‘but,’ somewhere in there,” Piper murmured, not wanting to jar him from his thoughts.

Danny scoffed, raising his eyebrows and crossing his freckled arms as he nodded. “Yeah. Big but. Biggest of which being his anti-ghoul initiative.”

“What the hell is that?” Piper asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Sounds dramatic.”

“That’s one word for it. Part of McDonough’s campaign was zero tolerance for ghouls. He promised to keep them out of the city, ‘away from our children and families,’ he said. Like ghouls are out here eating little kids,” Danny scoffed, shaking his head with a deep, disturbed frown. “To him, and the people that voted for him, there ain’t much difference between a feral and the rest of them, you know? So that campaign pretty much clinched the election for him. The ghouls were gone that same afternoon. Just kicked the fuck out.”

“Jesus,” Piper breathed, staring at him and almost afraid to move, like she might disturb something in the air. “I can’t believe he was able to do that. Didn’t anyone try to stop him?”

“…yeah,” Danny murmured, looking up at her and holding her eyes.

Piper stared back,frowning deeper the more the silence took on more meaning. “…what happened to them?”

“Gone.” Danny sat back against the pillows again, passing a large hand over his mouth. “Just gone. Vanished in the night.”

“No fucking way.”

“I’m serious,” Danny told her firmly. “No trace. No note, no fucking bodies, nothing. Not even any witnesses.”

“So, what, like they were kidnapped?”

“Must be. Not sure what else it could be,” Danny sighed heavily. “Security thought it might be murders, but there’s never any evidence. No sign of a struggle, no blood. People can hide bodies, but for this many murders to happen with no evidence left behind? That’s just nuts. Impossible.”

“Unless we’re dealing with a really thorough hitman,” Piper mused, trailing off as she snatched her notebook and began to scribble down notes. “How long has this been going on?”

“Since McDonough got elected,” Danny reiterated, watching her scrawl anxiously. “You’re not gonna…quote me or nothin’, are you?”

“No,” Piper assured him, looking up at him briefly. “Promise, Danny. No one will know you talked to me.”

Danny nodded, seeming to relax a bit at that. “Okay. Good. It’s just…I wanna help, but I’d rather not disappear, y’know?”

“Yeah. I’d rather you didn’t either,” Piper agreed, smirking a bit playfully at him over the edge of her notebook. She laughed quietly when his ears turned bright red. “You blush a lot.”

“You make me blush a lot,” Danny retorted, the corner of his mouth twitching.

“I’ll have to do it more often,” she grinned, before settling further down in her chair. “Okay. So when was the last disappearance?”

“Jesus, must’ve been…maybe three weeks ago? Was right before you two came to town.”

Piper nodded slowly, jotting down the estimate in her the margin of her notebook. “Okay. So that’s two years of disappearances. How many would you say there were in that time? Do you have an idea?”

“I dunno exactly how many. They probably have record of that up at the office,” Danny murmured thoughtfully. “If I had to guess though, at least fifteen.”

Piper’s eyebrows raised to the top of her forehead. “Fifteen. In one city. Shit.” She jotted that down, too, the lines a bit thicker and darker.

“Yeah.”

“Anything in common between them all?”

“Officially, no,” Danny scoffed. “But I knew a handful of em, at least. And they all liked to talk pretty loudly down at the Dugout about how they felt about McDonough. One beer too many and the next morning, you’re gone.”

Piper stared thoughtfully somewhere over Danny’s shoulder, letting that sink in. Well, she’d left her house looking for a fucking story, and she found it. “Has DCS turned anything up?” she wondered, eyes flitting to the side to meet Danny’s.

Danny was silent for a long moment, disengaging the eye contact and rubbing the back of his neck. “We…don’t really investigate the missing people cases.”

Piper stared blankly at him, long enough that Danny began to shift around in his seat and grimace. “You don’t investigate,” she deadpanned. “Why?”

“Mayor’s orders,” Danny huffed, face going pink. “It’s not my choice, Piper, y’know? I wanna know what happened, I wanna help, but I can’t. My hands are fucking tied, it’s a messy situation and I’m just one guy. I can’t-”

“Danny, breathe,” Piper interrupted, setting her notebook aside when it appeared Sullivan was not going to stop babbling any time soon. She reached across the empty space between them and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his thick ones and squeezing tight. “Hey, I’m not saying I blame you for it, alright? You’re doing your job the best way you know how in a crooked fucking city. It’s not your fault.”

“Feels like it’s my fault. Feels like I’m taking the easy way, y’know? I’m a fucking coward,” he scoffed matter-of-factly. “You know that. I can’t even scrape up enough balls to be quoted in your story. No way I could disagree with the Mayor to his face.”

“Bravery ain’t always about putting yourself in harm’s way, Sullivan,” Piper told him firmly. “Coming here, talking to me about this shit, even anonymously, that was brave. You took a risk even being seen coming into my house.”

Danny shrugged, avoiding her eyes studiously. “I guess. Still. I could be doing more. But I’m just…fucking scared.”

“People are disappearing, Danny. You don’t wanna be one of them. No one can fault you for that.” Piper squeezed his hand again, letting go when he nodded silently. Her hand felt a little cold when it wasn’t wrapped around his. Danny’s fingers curled once they were empty, forming a loose fist.

“Did you, uh, need anything else?” Danny asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand.

“Nah. We’re done for the night,” Piper assured him gently, smiling a bit. “Thanks. Seriously.”

“Sure,” Danny shrugged, looking vaguely pleased. “Just wanted to help.”

Piper closed her notebook and stuck it in her desk, rolling her hand clockwise to loosen her wrist. “It’s still pretty early. You wanna stick around? I have more beer.”

Danny tilted his head at her, his eyes flitting back and forth as he searched her face. “…sure,” he agreed finally, smiling lopsidedly.

“Great,” Piper grinned, getting to her feet. “I’ll be right back. We should stay up here, we’ll wake Nat if we go back down.”

“Sounds good.”

Piper carefully descended the steps, trying to avoid the squeaky one they’d stepped on earlier, and tiptoed into the kitchen to grab two more beers. The bottles clinked noisily as she wrapped her hand around their necks, and she grimaced and peered over the edge of the refrigerator door to make sure Natalie hadn’t woken up.

Luckily she was still dead to the world, sprawled out of her mattress in the corner. Piper had picked up some fairy lights, like the ones in her loft, for Nat’s nook, as well as some dingy tapestries and some cinder blocks for a makeshift half-wall. With all of that, it seemed less like Nat was sleeping in the corner of the living room and more like she had a private place. That was important to Piper; they’d been up each other’s asses their entire lives, living in their family’s small shack, and she wanted them each to have their own space now for sanity’s sake.

She found Danny look at the drawings Piper had posted on the wall above her desk, all of them Natalie’s. “Those are cute,” he commented, grinning at her as she handed him his beer. “Natalie’s?”

“Yeah,” Piper laughed quietly, sitting beside him on the bed now and propping her feet up on the desk chair. “Those are from a long time ago. You’ve seen, she’s gotten real good.”

Danny nodded in agreement, popping the cap off of his beer on the corner of the desk. “She has, she’s got a real talent.”

“Wish she could stay that way,” Piper sighed, frowning. “I just want a world where she never has to trade her pencil for a pistol.”

Danny glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “That’s deep,” he said, a little teasingly.

Piper snorted and nudged him, rolling her eyes. “I’m serious. It’s fucked up for a kid to have to grow up dealing with this shit. I learned how to shoot when I was ten, y’know? Soon I won’t be able to keep pretending.”

Danny made a soft noise in his throat, apparently unable to argue with that. “Must be hard, it just being the two of you.”

“Yeah,” Piper scoffed, spinning her bottle slowly between her fingers. “Mom wasn’t ever around for Nat, she left when she was still little. Dad was great, but he got sick and passed away last year.”

“I’m sorry,” Danny said softly, watching her profile in the gentle light.

Piper shrugged, taking a swig of beer. “It’s fine,” she said gruffly. “He was sick for a while, we were just kinda waiting for it. Still. Raising a kid out here is hard, especially when she’s your sister. It’s hard to get her to listen sometimes, and it’s not like I’ve had time to learn much motherly patience.”

“Yeah,” Danny murmured, still watching her closely, almost like he’d never seen her before. “Listen, I…I know we’ve only just met, really, but I think you’re doing great. With Natalie, with the paper…I think you’re one of the best things to come through our walls in a really long time.”

Piper turned her head to look at him, searching his soft green eyes and trying not to notice how they darted down to look at her mouth briefly. Real nice thought. “Thanks, Danny,” she murmured, looking away again before she could get any bright ideas.

“Sure.” They fell into silence then, and Danny finished off his beer. “Well. I guess I should get going. I’ve got an early shift.” He got to his feet, the bed creaking and sagging slightly as he did so. Piper opened her mouth to say goodbye, then blinked when Danny stooped and pressed a fleeting, barely-there peck on her cheekbone. “See you, Piper.” With that, he scurried down the stairs, like a scared puppy.

Piper stared after him, her lips parted in surprise. Her cheek still tingled a bit where his lips had brushed it, and her heart thudded slightly in her chest.

“…ah, shit.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @comefeedtherainn :D


End file.
